Modular, resealable fiber optic high fiber count packaging

ABSTRACT

A conductor packaging apparatus for packaging a plurality of conductors includes an outer shell having two halves, and an inner shell removably disposed between the halves of the outer shell. The inner shell has two halves and a plurality of connector attachments disposed on an inner surface of at least one of the halves of the inner shell. wherein the two halves of the outer shell are movably attached to one another between a closed position in which the connector attachments enclosed by both the inner shell and the outer shell, and an open position in which the two halves of the outer shell are apart from one another.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to International Application No.PCT/US2010/022037 filed on Jan. 26, 2010 based on U.S. Application No.61/147,265, and to U.S. Application No. 61/227,223 filed on Jul. 21,2010, the contents of all of which are incorporated by reference intheir entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for packaging conductors,such as optical fibers, having connectors for transporting theconductors with the connectors, and to a packaging apparatus totransport conductors having connectors and a method thereof. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to a method of packaginghigh conductors count connectors, and a packaging apparatus to transporthigh conductors count connectors.

2. Related Art

The conventional packaging used for high fiber count (HFC) fiber opticconnectors, such as jumpers and pigtails, is applied at themanufacturing facility. The packaging provides a protective cover overthe cable assembly breakouts and connector plug to prevent damage duringshipping and handling. This packaging is typically sealed in thefactory. The current method of installing the fiber optic cable includesopening the high fiber count packaging to perform a continuity check onthe cable before the HFC fiber optic cable is installed. However, theconventional HFC fiber optic cable packaging is not easily re-sealableand does not facilitate these type of field inspections.

Accordingly, there remains a need for an improved packaging apparatusand method that facilitates inspections of the cable prior toinstallation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments provide a conductor packaging apparatus thatfacilitates inspection of the cable prior to installation and allows formany different connector configurations to be used without requiring anentirely different packaging apparatus.

One aspect of an exemplary embodiment provides a conductor packagingapparatus for packaging a plurality of conductors including an outershell comprising two halves; and an inner shell removably disposedbetween the halves of the outer shell; a plurality of connectorattachments disposed on an inner surface of the inner shell, wherein thetwo halves of the outer shell are movably attached to one anotherbetween a closed position in which the connector attachments areenclosed by both the inner shell and the outer shell, and an openposition in which the two halves of the outer shell are apart from oneanother.

The inner shell may include two halves.

The outer shell may include a female portion at one end and a maleportion at another end which fits within the female portion forconnecting a plurality of assemblies to one another.

The inner shell may be disposed between the female portion and the maleportion and does not overlap the female portion or the male portion.

A pulling mechanism may be attached to one end of the outer shell.

A hinge may be disposed between the two halves of the outer shell tohingedly connect the two halves to one another.

A hinge may be disposed between the two halves of the inner shell tohingedly connect the two halves to one another.

The halves of the outer shell may each have a substantial U-shape incross section and form a hollow cylindrical shape when attached to oneanother.

The halves of the inner shell may each have a substantial U-shape incross section and form a hollow cylindrical shape when attached to oneanother.

An attachment portion may extend from at least one end of the housing,wherein the housing is attachable to a housing of another apparatus.

The attachment portion may limit a number of degrees of freedom of thehousing relative to the another apparatus.

The housing may extend along a longitudinal axis and the connectingportions are radially spaced about the longitudinally axis of thehousing.

A U-shaped slot may be formed at each end of each half of the innershell and of each half of the outer shell to define a conductorinsertion hole in each end of the inner shell and of the outer shell.

The conductors may be optical fibers.

A conductor packaging assembly may include a plurality of the conductorpackaging apparatuses attached to one another in series.

An aspect of another exemplary embodiment provides a method of packaginga bundle in a conductor packaging assembly comprising an outer shellhaving two halves and an inner shell having two halves, each of thebundles including a plurality of conductors, wherein each conductorincludes a connector at a first end thereof, the method includingattaching the connectors of the conductors of the bundle to the innershell of the conductor packaging assembly; closing the two halves of theconductor packaging assembly to abut one another; placing the innershell with the conductors in the outer shell and attaching the twohalves of the outer shell to one another to enclose the inner shell;wherein the conductors of the first bundle extend through a conductorinsertion hole formed in the inner shell and through a conductorinsertion hole formed in the outer shell.

The method may include gathering the conductors attached to the innershell at a location beyond an end of the inner shell.

The method may include attaching the inner shell to the outer shell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The following is a brief description of the Figures, in which likeelements are referred to with like reference numerals.

FIG. 1 is front view of an exemplary embodiment of a fiber packagingmodule in an open position illustrating a plurality of connectorsdisposed therein;

FIG. 2 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of an inner shell ofthe module of FIG. 1 illustrating the plurality of connectors disposedtherein;

FIG. 3 is an perspective view of another exemplary embodiment of onehalf of an outer shell and one half of an inner shell illustrating theconnectors disposed therein

FIG. 4 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of an outer shell ofthe module of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of the inner shell ofthe module of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a front view of another exemplary embodiment of a fiberpackaging module in an open position illustrating a plurality ofconnectors disposed therein;

FIG. 7 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of a fiber packagingapparatus including two fiber packaging modules in an open position;

FIG. 8 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of a fiber packagingassembly including two modules, a pulling mechanism, and a conductorclamp assembly;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a fiberpackaging module and a pulling attachment;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a pulling attachment;

FIG. 11 is a front view of one half of an outer shell used as a slackspool;

FIG. 12 is a front view of one half of an outer shell used as a take-upspool;

FIG. 13 is a front view of an exemplary embodiment of a fiber packagingapparatus including three outer shells, a pulling attachment attached toone of the outer shells, and a conductor clamp assembly shown in alongan arced surface;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a conductorclamp assembly;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of one half of an exemplary embodiment ofan insert;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a clampingshell in the closed position;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a clampingshell in the open position; and

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a collar.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention overcome the abovedisadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, thepresent invention is not required to overcome the disadvantagesdescribed above, and an exemplary embodiment of the present inventionmay not overcome any of the problems described above.

The embodiments below refer to examples where the conductors 9 areoptical fibers. However, embodiments would also be applicable toconductors that are electrical wires. FIG. 1 is perspective view of anexemplary embodiment of a fiber packaging module 10 in an open positionillustrating a plurality of connectors 12 disposed therein.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus 10 includes an outer shell 14 and aninner shell 16. The outer shell 14 includes two halves that may beconnected to one another by a hinge, as shown in FIG. 1, or may beseparate, as shown in FIG. 4. The inner shell 16 includes two halvesthat may be connected to one another by a hinge, as shown in FIG. 2, ormay be separate, as shown in FIG. 5. Each half of the inner shell 16 isinstalled on each half of the outer shell 14, as shown in FIG. 3, andtwo halves are faced against one another to form the apparatus 10.

As best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the inner shell 16 of the apparatus 10includes a plurality of connector mounts 18 to store a plurality ofconnectors 12, for example, up to thirty-six connectors. However, thenumber of connector mounts 18 and respective connectors 12 may be variedas would be generally understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.For example, the exemplary embodiments may store up to twenty-fourconnectors 12, with twelve connectors 12 in each half of the inner shell16, or up to thirty-six connectors 12, with eighteen connectors 12 ineach half of the inner shell 16.

The two halves of the outer shell 14 are movably attached to one anotherbetween a closed position in which the connector mounts 18 are enclosedby both the inner shell 16 and the outer shell 14, and an open positionin which the two halves of the outer shell 14 are apart from oneanother.

The halves of the outer shell 14 each having a substantial U-shape incross section and form a hollow cylindrical shape when attached to oneanother. Similarly, the halves of the inner shell 16 each having asubstantial U-shape in cross section and form a hollow cylindrical shapewhen attached to one another. A U-shaped slot is formed at each end ofeach half of the inner shell 16 and of each half of the outer shell 14to define a conductor insertion hole 20 in each end of the inner shell16 and a conductor insertion hole 21 in each end of the outer shell 14.

An attachment portion 22, 24 extends from at least one end of the outershell 14, wherein the outer shell 14 is attachable to an outer shell 14of another apparatus 10. The attachment portion 22, 24 limits a numberof degrees of freedom of the outer shell relative to the anotherapparatus 10.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, each module 10 may include asemicircular male portion 22, i.e., a socket portion, at one end, and asemicircular female portion 24, i.e., a ball portion, at the other end.The male portion 22 and the female portion 24 are formed integrally withthe two halves of the outer shell 14 wherein the male portion 22includes two halves and the female portion includes two halves.

As shown in FIG. 7, the male portion 22 of one apparatus 10 may beplaced between and fits within two halves of a female portion 24 ofanother apparatus, whereby two apparatuses 10 may be connected to oneanother through a ball and socket arrangement. An inner surface of themale portion 22 is concave and an outer surface of the female portion 24is convex and matches the profile of the concave inner surface of themale portion 22. As such, when the female portion 24 of one apparatus 10is connected to the male portion 22 of another apparatus 10, as shown inFIGS. 8 and 13, the two connected apparatuses 10 may rotate and bendrelative to one another and thereby the connected apparatuses 10 caneasily wrap around an arc of a cable reel or follow a bend(schematically shown in FIG. 13) of a conduit or cable tray.

The inner shell 16 is disposed between the male portion 22 and thefemale portion 24 along a longitudinal axis A of the apparatus and doesnot overlap the female portion 24 or the male portion 22.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a pulling mechanism 26 may be attached toone end of the apparatus 10. The pulling mechanism 26 may include, forexample, a hook, a through hole, or any other structure that may be usedto pull the module 10, and any modules 10 attached thereto, through aduct, conduit, cable tray or the like. The pulling mechanism 26 includesone of a male portion 22 or a female portion 24 disposed at an endthereof that is attachable to the other of a female portion 24 or themale portion 22 of a module 10. For example, FIG. 10 illustrates thepulling mechanism 26 including a male portion 22 that is attachable to afemale portion 24 of a module 10.

As respectively shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, an outer shell 14 may be used,without the inner shell 16 attached, as a slack spool to take up excesslength of the conductors, or as a take-up spool to adjust the lengths ofthe conductors from multiple modules 10 to provide equal lengths. FIG.11 illustrates the left-most outer shell 14 without a correspondinginner shell 16, wherein the left-most outer shell 14 may be used as atake-up spool or slack spool for the conductors extending from modules10 shown in FIG. 11.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 13-18, a conductor clamp assembly 28 may beattached to one end of the apparatus 10. The conductor clamp assembly 28may include an insert 30 which is disposed substantially or entirelyaround a portion of the conductors 9, a clamping shell 32 which has twohalves that clamp together around the conductors 9 and the insert 30,and a collar 34 disposed over the clamp shell 32. The insert 30 has athrough hole which is dimensioned based on the outer diameter of theconductors 9.

The collar 34 is fitted over an end of the clamping shell 32 to retainthe clamping shell 32 in a closed position and to exert pressure ontothe insert 30 to thereby deform the insert 30 and to compress theconductors 9. The insert 30 is positioned axially at substantially thesame location along the axis A as the collar 34. By this arrangement,the conductors 9 are compressed by the conductor clamp assembly 28 toprevent rotation of the apparatus 10 relative to the conductors 9 and totransfer an axial load to the apparatus 10. The insert 30 may be anystructure capable of exerting a compressive force onto the conductors 9.

The clamping shell 32 may include a snap closure 36 to retain the halvesof the clamping shell in a closed position.

A sleeve 38 and/or a layer of tape 40 may be disposed over a portion ofthe conductors 9 at which the insert 30 of the conductor clamp assembly28 is disposed. FIG. 14 illustrates a sleeve, for example, made of athermoplastic polymer such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which may be heatshrunk over the conductors 9. The sleeve 38 may be lined on the innersurface with an adhesive. As shown in FIG. 14, the tape 40 may bedisposed over the sleeve 38.

In operation, a plurality of the connectors 12 are attached to theconnector mounts 18 of a plurality of different inner shells 16, asshown in FIG. 5. Each inner shell 16 is installed in a respective halfof an outer shell 14.

The exemplary embodiments of the apparatus 10 provide protection to theconnectors 12 and respective fibers by encapsulating the connectors 12inside the inner shell 16 as well as the outer shell 14, therebyprotecting these components from mechanical damage and environmentalcontamination during installation. Furthermore, since the inner shell 16is removable, an inner shell 16 may be customized for a plurality ofcommon types of connectors, such as simplex SC, simplex FC, simplex ST,simplex LC, duplex SC, and duplex LC, for example. The inner shell 16can be unique to each connector configuration or may be a hybrid of oneor more types of connectors combined in a single inner shell 16, whicheach may be used with the same outer shell 14.

Exemplary embodiments of the packaging apparatus allows the module to beeasily opened and closed as needed for field inspections whilesimultaneously protecting the fiber to connectors and fibers frommechanical damage and environmental contamination during installation.Exemplary embodiments of the apparatus may be used as a take-up spool tomanage the slack length difference between subunits of a high fibercount fiber optic cable assembly, and may be used with or without theinner spool to provide alternative packaging arrangements based on theuse. Exemplary embodiments allow for convenient marking and identifyingof the individual connector positions and subunits, thereby providingeasier and more efficient fiber connector identification when theconnectors are unpacked and placed into service by the installer. Theexemplary embodiments may be easily recycled and thus are moreenvironmentally friendly. For example, the apparatuses may be reused asneeded to return the cable to the factory, or may be inserted into astandard pulling sock by installers in the field. An exemplaryembodiment of the packaging assembly allows consecutive apparatuses tobe wrapped around the arc of a cable reel or follow the normal bend of aconduit or cable tray. Exemplary embodiments may be easily pulledthrough a duct, conduit, or cable tray.

Although the above exemplary embodiments have been described, they arenot limiting, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatthe present invention should not be limited to the described exemplaryaspects and embodiments, but that various changes and modifications canbe made within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

1. A conductor packaging apparatus for packaging a plurality ofconductors, the apparatus comprising: an outer shell comprising twohalves; and an inner shell removably disposed between the halves of theouter shell; a plurality of connector mounts disposed on an innersurface of the inner shell; wherein the two halves of the outer shellare movably attached to one another between a closed position in whichthe connector mounts are enclosed by both the inner shell and the outershell, and an open position in which the two halves of the outer shellare apart from one another.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the inner shell comprises two halves.
 3. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, further comprising a pulling mechanism attached to one endof the outer shell.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a hinge disposed between the two halves of the outer shell tohingedly connect the two halves to one another.
 5. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising a hinge disposed between thetwo halves of the inner shell to hingedly connect the two halves to oneanother.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the halves ofthe outer shell each having a substantial U-shape in cross section andform a hollow cylindrical shape when attached to one another.
 7. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the halves of the inner shelleach having a substantial U-shape in cross section and form a hollowcylindrical shape when attached to one another.
 8. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising an attachment portion extendingfrom at least one end of the outer shell, wherein the outer shell isattachable to an outer shell of another apparatus.
 9. The apparatusaccording to claim 8, wherein the attachment portion limits a number ofdegrees of freedom of the housing relative to the another apparatus. 10.The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the attachment portioncomprises a female portion at one end of the outer shell and a maleportion at another end of the shell which fits within the femaleportion.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the innershell is disposed between the female portion and the male portion anddoes not overlap the female portion or the male portion.
 12. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inner shell extends along alongitudinal axis and the connecting portions are radially spaced aboutthe longitudinally axis of the inner shell.
 13. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein a U-shaped slot is formed at each end of each halfof the inner shell and of each half of the outer shell to define aconductor insertion hole in each end of the inner shell and of the outershell.
 14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conductorsare optical fibers.
 15. A conductor packaging assembly comprising aplurality of the conductor packaging apparatuses of claim 1 attached toone another in series.
 16. The conductor packaging assembly according toclaim 15, further comprising a conductor clamp assembly disposed at oneend of one of the plurality of conductor packaging apparatuses whichcompresses the conductors.
 17. A method of packaging a bundle in aconductor packaging assembly comprising an outer shell having two halvesand an inner shell, each of the bundles including a plurality ofconductors, wherein each conductor includes a connector at a first endthereof, the method comprising: attaching the connectors of theconductors of the bundle to the inner shell of the conductor packagingassembly; placing the inner shell with the conductors in the outer shelland attaching the two halves of the outer shell to one another toenclose the inner shell; wherein the conductors of the first bundleextend through a conductor insertion hole formed in the inner shell andthrough a conductor insertion hole formed in the outer shell.
 18. Themethod according to claim 17, further comprising closing the two halvesof the conductor packaging assembly to abut one another;
 19. The methodaccording to claim 17, further comprising gathering the conductorsattached to the inner shell at a location beyond an end of the innershell.
 20. The method according to claim 17, further comprisingattaching the inner shell to the outer shell.